Aerating faucet



Sept. 5, 1961 E. P. AGHNIDES AERATING FAUCET Filed April 30. 1959 FIG.

ATTORNEYS aerator extending below the faucet.

United States Patent 2,998,925 AERATING FAUCET Elie P. Aghnides, 46 W.54th St., New York 19, NY. Filed Apr. 30, 1959, Sex. No. 810,103 Claimspriority, application France Nov. 29, 1949 5 Claims. (Cl. 239-430) Thisinvention relates to a faucet that produces an aerated stream of water.

In the prior art, for example my U.S. Patents No. 2,210,846 entitled,Flu-id Mixing Device, granted August 6, 1940, and No. 2,316,832entitled, Fluid Mixing Device, granted April 20, 1943, it was customaryto attach an aerator on the spout end of a faucet, the In my Patent No.2,633,343 entitled, Gas and Liquid Mixing Device, granted March 31,1953, I illustrated an aerator located inside the faucet, but there is adisadvantage to that particular aerator in that it is difiicult toclean. A major advantage of that patent is that it is difiicult toreplace the parts incorrectly after the aerator has been removed fromthe faucet for the purposes of cleaning. The main object of the presentinvention is to overcome the difliculties in respect to cleaning foundin that prior patent without' loss of the advantages.

Anothermain object of the invention is to provide an etfective way oflocatingan aerator in a faucet.

Another object of the invention is to improve the aerator so far as theair passageway to the mixing space is concerned.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent as this descriptionproceeds.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my prior copendingapplication Serial No. 601,712, filed August 2, 1956, entitled, FluidMixing Device, which is in turn a continuation-in-part of my applicationSerial No. 135,645, filed December 29, 1949, entitled, Fluid MixingDevice. The latter application, with some of the figures relevant to theinvention here disclosed and claimed cancelled, issued into U.S. PatentNo. 2,811,340 on October 29, 1957. The last-named application wascopending with my prior application Serial No. 88,797, filed April 21,1949, now U.S. Patent No. 2,664,278, issued December 29, 1953, entitled,Fluid Mixing Device. This application is related to my prior copendingapplication Serial No. 337,501, filed February 18, 1953, entitled,Faucet Attachment, (now abandoned) which is in turn related to myapplication Serial No. 63,110, filed December 2, 1948, entitled, Gas andLiquid Mixing Device, now U.S. Patent No. 2,633,343. This application isalso a continuationin-part of my prior copending application Serial No.752,458, filed August 1, 1958, entitled, Water Taps Having ImprovedAerating Spouts. It is also related to my prior copending applicationSerial No. 560,299 which in turn is related to my application Serial No.424,982, filed April 22, 1954, now U.S. Patent No. 2,799,487, entitled,Aerator with Unitary Molded Inner Assembly. It is also related to myprior copending application Serial No. 639,783, filed February 12, 1957,entitled, Vandal-Proof Aerator. It is moreover, a continuation-in-partof my prior copending application Serial No. 746,539, filed July 3,1958, entitled, Assembled Jet and Mixing Means for Water Aerators. Thisapplication is also a continuation-inpart of my prior copendingapplication Serial No. 351,907, filed April 29, 1953, entitled, FluidMixing Device, (now abandoned).

In the drawings:

2,998,925 Patented Sept. 5, 19 61 ice In FIGURE 1, a faucet which is ofcourse a tubular conduit, has an enlarged internally bored portion 11exthat system is composed of the following parts. A poly FIGURE 1 is across-sectional view of an aerating ethylene inverted cup 13 has eightlegs 16 separated by spaces 17. The upper end of the inverted cup 13comprises a disc 14 having three rows of apertures 15. Located centrallyin the cup is a projection 18. An upstream screen 19 has a frame aroundits periphery to hold it ina ilat plane and a centrally located holewhich is originally slightly smaller than the diameter of projection 18,whereby during assembly when the screen is manually pressed intoposition the screen wires will grip the projection 18 and hold thescreen to the projection by friction once it is inserted thereon. Thelower screen 20 is permanently mounted in a cylindrical member 21 andheld therein by means of a retaining ring 22. The cylindrical member 21has an upper part 23 which has internal threads 24 which are inengagement with complementary threads on the outside of the faucet 10.Air inlet holes 25 are located in a shoulder on the cylindrical member21.

The cylindrical member 21 forms a tubular outlet element.

The device functions as an aerator in basically the same way as myaforesaid prior patents in that water is forced under pressure throughthe openings 15, producing a plurality of separate high velocity spacedstreamlets inside the cup 13. These high velocity streamlets impingeupon the screens 19 and 20 where they are finely broken up and mixedwith air and the water is discharged from the outlet of the device inthe form of a white coherent bubbly jet of aerated water.

I have shown the holes 15 as conventional since the details thereof formno part of the present invention; however it is understood that thepresent device could be improved if any of the improved forms ofupstream discs that I have shown in my prior copending applications aresubstituted for the disc 14-. The aforesaid patents and applicationsshow some of the improved forms of upstream discs that may be used.

The device herein disclosed can be easily cleaned by the housewife bysimply unscrewing the member 21 from the faucet 10 whereby the invertedcup 13, the screen 19 and the screen 20 are removed from inside thefaucet. The screen 19 can be readily removed from the projection 18 andcleaned separately. Upon removal of that screen both sides of disc 14are exposed whereby. it may be easily cleaned. Moreover, the screen 20is separate from the screen 19 and from the disc 14, and therefore itmay be readily cleaned. After cleaning it is very difiicult for thehousewife to assemble the device incorrectly, especially since themember 21 which carries the screen 20 permanently is too large to fitinside the faucet and therefore it will be apparent to the housewifethat it is assembled last and is screwed onto the outside of the faucet.

The housewife will see at once that screen 20 is adapted to be replacedonto projection 18. All she then needs to do is to replace the unit 1320inside the faucet and screw the member 21 onto the faucet until theinverted cup is pressed against shoulder 12.

It is noted that the cylindrical member 21 (tubular outlet element) issmaller in diameter than the faucet 10 and its downstream end is locatedbelow the downstream end of the faucet. It carries screen 20 downstreamof the faucet 10. Moreover, the air entering inlet ports 25 enters themixing space (the space where the water is mixed with air due to screenresistance) immediately adjacent the upstream side of screen 19. Thisprovides a short and direct air path which is easy to keep clean. Iclaim to have invented:

' 1. In an aerator, a tubular conduit adapted to be connected at itsupstream endto a source of water under pressure, jet forming means inthe path of-the water for increasing the velocity of while decreasingthe crosssection of the water, a tubular outlet element having smallercross-section than that of the tubular conduit, the tubular outletelementbeing supported by the downstream portion of the tubular conduitwith the downstream end of said tubular outlet element furtherdownstream than the downstream end of the tubular conduit, mixing meansspaced downstream of the jet forming means to thereby form therebetweena mixing space, said mixing means being at least partly locateddownstream of the downstream end of the tubular conduit and at leastpartly in the tubular outlet element and including means for finelybreaking up the water from the jet forming means and mixing the brokenwater with air to produce a coherent stream laden with numerous smallbubbles and to discharge such stream through the tubular outlet element,said tubular conduit and said tubular outlet element having at least oneopening between them thereby providing at least one air inlet whichenters the downstream end of the tubular conduit through the inletbetween said conduit and said element, and enters said mixing spaceadjacent said mixing means.

2. An aerator as defined in claim 1 in which said tubular conduit is afaucet.

3. An aerator as defined in claim 1 in which there are supporting meanscarried by the downstream end of the faucet extending inwardly tosupport said tubular outlet element, said supporting means having saidair inlet therein.

4. An aerator as defined in claim 1 in which the downstream end of thetubular conduit is threaded; and a cap, including said tubular outletelement, threaded to mate with the downstream end of the conduit; saidcap having said air inlet therein.

5. An aerator as defined in claim 1 in which the tubular conduit is afaucet having external threads, a cap having internal threads matingwith those on the faucet, said cap including said tubular outlet elementand defining said air inlet adjacent the outer surface of the tubularoutlet element.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,210,846 Aghnides Aug. 6, 1940 2,316,135 Turek et al. Apr. 6, 19432,316,832 Aghnides Apr. 20, 1943 2,510,395 Goodrie June 6, 19502,541,854 Bachli et al. Feb. 13, 1951 2,633,343 Aghnides Mar. 31, 19532,717,772 Palivos Sept. 13, 1955 2,744,738 Hjulian May 8, 1956 2,754,097Hjulian July 10, 1956 2,799,487 Aghnides July 16, 1957

